It’s a hallmark of one of two distinct styles - 80s New Wave (bonus marks for piano key print along one edge), and cheesy gangster. There is no use case for a long white tie outside those two scenarios.
"white tie" is a distinct dress code involving a white bowtie. Outside of that, there's no real history of people wearing white neckwear. This is for a few reasons:
The purpose of a tie in an outfit is generally to bring in new colors and textures. A white cotton shirt, a dark worsted wool suit, and a bright colorful tie with a silky sheen and intricate pattern... There's a whole history around the British falling in love with paisley and using it as a display of wealth.
It's very hard to dye silk white (or at least it was, historically). The bowtie in white tie is marcella cotton.
White shirts are the most common. A white necktie would have been hard to pair with most wardrobes, more likely to get dirty (you don't want to have to get your tie cleaned, it's a whole thing).
People generally like to layer darker layers over lighter layers. It's not, as the other user suggested, a "rule," it's just a good approach to layering different colors. You put on a shirt, then a tie, then a jacket—white, color, dark—and it'll probably work. The other way around doesn't work nearly as consistently.
(I tried posting this from kbin, but apparently lemmy.world defederated with them...)
“Your tie should always be darker than your shirt.” is the typical rule. With that in mind, most dress shirts are white, pale blue, or pastel. So there is very little use cases for a white long tie. This does change for “White tie dress” which is a totally different discussion
A tie that’s brighter than your collar pulls eyes away from your face. That’s the wrong direction.
You don’t want people looking at your chest, you want them to pay attention to your speech and expression. Same with cuffs and shoes. Draw focus to hands and face. Not feet, unless you’re Michael Jackson.
I don’t know, a yellow or silver tie paired with a blue (non-winchester) shirt is a common combination. Spectator shoes (white and black/brown shoes) are an established part of classic menswear.
Red is a very eye-catching color, but red ties are ubiquitous.
Blends against the typical light colors most men will be wearing via their button down.
Basically you only wear it if you’re wearing a dark button down, and even then I’d say only if it was REALLY dark since white is eye catching in a way that can clash with your presentation of the other colors in your ensemble.
I got a light colored tie recently and already I’ve been looking carefully at what in my wardrobe will work with it for the special occasions I want to wear it for.
Probably the same reason in many sports like cycling white is the winning color. It gets dirty so easily that you can’t really keep wearing it. A tie is out there touching and getting touched. It will likely have a shorter life. Plus the modern bright white is fake and involves additives that shift higher non visible frequency wavelengths into the visible spectrum. That’s why your white towels and bright white undershirts turn less bright and more of an ivory over time. The additives needed to create that bright white may not work with a finer silk thread. Everything I can think of with really bright white are a heavier weight thread. That is just off the top of my head. I think I learned the white additive thing from Veritasium on YT years ago. Edit: no it was “Nighthawk in Light” on YT that I learned the white thing from.
Idk, white dress shirts are commonplace and much more likely to get dirty. I don’t think it’s particularly hard to manufacture white ties. They are sometimes worn at weddings and white bow ties are a staple of formal wear.
I know, I was pointing out that white bow ties are regularly made for formal wear, so manufacturing challenges can’t be the reason why white neckties aren’t popular.
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